Under Siege Netflix Parents Guide: True Story? My 9/10

I watched all eight episodes of Under Siege on Netflix with English subtitles, and it’s a 9 out of 10 from me. This Under Siege Netflix parents guide covers everything I’d want to know before pressing play: whether it’s a true story, what the TV-MA warnings actually cover, how long the whole series takes, and the age I’d pick for a teenager.

Here’s the short version. Under Siege is a Colombian limited series about the 1985 siege of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, and it’s heavy in the way true stories are heavy. It is not the 1992 Steven Seagal movie, and it isn’t Netflix’s Spanish show Bank Under Siege either, which is an easy mix-up when you search for it. Below I go through the real people behind the characters, every episode’s runtime, the parents guide details and an easy way to keep track of a big cast.

Quick note: this review is spoiler free. Even though the story is history, I don’t say how it ends.

Under Siege Netflix parents guide card showing TV-MA warnings, scare level 2 out of 5 and my 16 and up age pick

Release date	November 6, 2026 (all 8 episodes at once)
Episodes and runtime	8 episodes, 46 to 64 minutes each (6 hours 51 minutes total)
Rating	TV-MA (violence, nudity, language, smoking)
Genre	Colombian historical thriller and political drama
Based on	The real 1985 Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá. Netflix calls it a work of fiction inspired by real events
Original title and language	Palacio, in Spanish. I watched with English subtitles
Scare level	2 / 5 (a few startling moments, not horror)
Animals	None that I noticed
Where to watch	Netflix only (it’s a Netflix original)
My verdict	9 / 10, a heavy but gripping true-story binge
Best for / Good to know	Best for true-story and political thriller fans. Good to know: the story jumps between 1985 and the years after, so keep a who’s who handy (mine is below), and I’d save it for 16 and up

What Under Siege Is About (No Spoilers)

Under Siege, called Palacio in Spanish, is an eight-episode Netflix original from Colombia. It dramatizes Wednesday, November 6, 1985, the day a commando from the M-19 guerrilla group stormed the Palace of Justice in the heart of Bogotá and took more than 300 people hostage, Supreme Court justices included. Outside, the army moved in to take the building back, while families gathered and waited for any news.

What surprised me is that the siege is only half of the story. Netflix sums it up as twenty-eight hours of chaos followed by decades of questions, and that’s exactly how the show is built. The early episodes stay with the people inside and around the building. Then the story moves forward months and years, following a woman searching for answers, a TV journalist who won’t let the story go, and a lawyer who takes on the families’ case.

Episode 1 opens before any of that, with a young couple arriving at the Palace for a date. Starting on an ordinary day is a smart choice, because you get to know these people before everything changes.

The showrunner is Natalia Santa, who also wrote Netflix’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, and it was produced by Dynamo, the Colombian company behind Narcos. Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante directed the first three episodes, and Edgar Nito and Samir Oliveros directed the other five.

Is Under Siege a True Story?

Yes. Under Siege is based on the real Palace of Justice siege, one of the darkest days in Colombia’s modern history. Netflix labels it a work of fiction inspired by real events, which means the big events and many of the people are real, while some scenes, conversations and characters were shaped for drama.

According to Netflix, the writers spent more than seven years on research, going through documents, testimonies and interviews. Many of the main characters are real public figures: President Belisario Betancur, Chief Justice Alfonso Reyes Echandía, then-colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega, TV journalist Olga Behar and human rights lawyer Eduardo Umaña. FlickOnClick’s review points out that some characters are fictional, so I’d treat it as a dramatization, not a documentary.

Here’s the real setup, so you know what you’re walking into:

When: Wednesday, November 6, 1985, starting at about 11:35 a.m.
Where: The Palace of Justice on Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, facing Colombia’s Congress and about a block from the presidential palace.
Who: A commando from the M-19 guerrilla group, which said it wanted to put President Belisario Betancur on trial.
Why that week: The Supreme Court was about to start weighing the extradition treaty with the United States, and several justices had received threats. Claims that drug traffickers were involved are still debated today.
How long: About 28 hours, until the army retook the building on November 7.

That’s as far as I’ll go. How it ended, and why families are still asking questions four decades later, is what the series is about, and it’s better to let the show tell you.

Timeline card of the real 1985 Palace of Justice siege in Bogota that inspired Netflix's Under Siege

Do You Need to Know Colombian History Before Watching?

No. The show explains what you need as it goes, and English subtitles cover the news reports and radio calls too. That said, three quick pieces of background make the first episode much easier to follow:

M-19: a Colombian guerrilla group founded in the 1970s. The name comes from April 19, 1970, the date of a presidential election its founders said was stolen.
The Palace of Justice: the building that housed Colombia’s Supreme Court and Council of State, right on the main square in Bogotá. That’s why so many judges and court staff were inside that morning.
Extradition: in the mid-1980s, sending accused drug traffickers to stand trial in the United States was one of the most explosive debates in Colombia, and the Supreme Court was about to take up the treaty.

With those three in mind, you’ll catch why the people in the first episode are so tense even before anything happens.

Who’s Who in Under Siege: The Real People and the Actors

Under Siege has a big cast, and it moves between the Palace, the president’s office, the newsroom and the families waiting outside. A few critics mention that the shifting points of view take some focus, so here’s the cheat sheet I’d keep open on my phone for the first couple of episodes:

Natalia Reyes as Pilar Navarrete: a real woman whose search for answers is the emotional heart of the series.
Camilo Amores as Jimmy Beltrán: Pilar’s husband.
Luna Baxter as Olga Behar: a real TV journalist, who later wrote the book Noches de humo about the siege.
Mariana Gómez as La Mona: a member of the M-19 commando.
Rodrigo Rodríguez as Andrés Almarales: one of the M-19 commanders.
Robinson Díaz as President Belisario Betancur: Colombia’s president at the time.
Santiago Alarcón as Alfonso Reyes Echandía: president of the Supreme Court.
Carlos Manuel Vesga as Alfonso Plazas Vega: the army colonel at the center of the operation outside.
Andrés Castañeda as Eduardo Umaña: the lawyer who takes on the families’ case.
Nicole Santamaría as Ángela María Buitrago: a prosecutor.

Natalia Reyes, who plays Pilar Navarrete in Under Siege, speaking at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 — Natalia Reyes at San Diego Comic-Con International, July 2019. Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped from the original and shared under the same license.

If one face looks familiar, it’s probably Natalia Reyes. She played Dani in Terminator: Dark Fate, and in Under Siege she carries the emotional side of the story. The cast card below has the same list in one picture, which is handy for a quick screenshot.

Under Siege who's who card matching eight real people to the actors who play them

Two more faces you’ll see a lot belong to the men outside the Palace walls. Robinson Díaz plays President Belisario Betancur. In Colombia he’s best known as “El Cabo” from El Cartel de los Sapos and El Señor de los Cielos, so seeing him in a suit as the president is a real change of pace.

Robinson Díaz, who plays President Belisario Betancur in Under Siege, in a 2024 portrait — Robinson Díaz in a portrait taken in August 2024. Photo: Nandasalazarr / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped from the original and shared under the same license.

The army colonel, Alfonso Plazas Vega, is played by Carlos Manuel Vesga. If you watch Apple TV, you probably know him as Manousos Oviedo from Pluribus. He was also in The Hijacking of Flight 601, another Colombian Netflix series based on a real event, so he’s no stranger to this kind of story.

Carlos Manuel Vesga, who plays Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega in Under Siege, at the 2026 BAFTA TV Awards — Carlos Manuel Vesga on the red carpet at the BAFTA Television Awards, May 2026. Photo: JaceMerlyn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped from the original and shared under the same license.

Under Siege Episode Guide and Runtimes

Netflix released all eight episodes at once on November 6, 2026, exactly 41 years after the siege began. Here are the titles and runtimes from the Netflix app, with no plot details:

Episode 1, Destined for Chaos: 51 minutes
Episode 2, No Negotiation: 49 minutes
Episode 3, Ceasefire: 49 minutes
Episode 4, Condemned: 53 minutes
Episode 5, Something to Die For: 46 minutes
Episode 6, In Pursuit of the Truth: 52 minutes
Episode 7, A Reasonable Offer: 47 minutes
Episode 8, Never Forget: 64 minutes

That’s 6 hours and 51 minutes in total. The finale is the longest at 64 minutes, and episode 5 is the shortest at 46. The first two episodes focus on the siege itself, and episode 3 is where the story starts jumping ahead in time, so the end of episode 2 makes a natural break.

If you’d rather not binge it all at once, three nights works well: episodes 1 and 2 (1 hour 40 minutes), episodes 3 to 5 (2 hours 28 minutes), then episodes 6 to 8 (2 hours 43 minutes).

Under Siege episode guide card with all 8 episode titles, runtimes and a three-night viewing plan

Why I Gave Under Siege a 9 out of 10

The first reason is the true-story tension. In a regular thriller, part of me can relax because I know it’s made up. Here, every unanswered phone call and every minute that passes feels heavier, because real families lived through those hours.

The second is the acting. Natalia Reyes carries the emotional weight as Pilar, and the series is really built around three women, Pilar, the journalist Olga and the guerrilla La Mona, who each see the same day from a completely different side. Critics singled out those three performances too, and I agree with them.

Third, it looks incredible. Netflix built a set of more than 4,000 square meters in Bogotá, including a 30-meter recreation of the Palace’s original facade, and it took over three months to build. The 1985 details, from the newsrooms to the street scenes outside the Palace, make it feel like old news footage brought back to life.

And honestly, this was a part of history I didn’t know. I’m Korean and I live in the US, so the Palace of Justice siege simply wasn’t something I grew up hearing about. I came away knowing a chapter of Colombia’s story I had never heard of, and for me that alone made the almost seven hours worth it.

Under Siege Netflix Parents Guide: Violence, Nudity and Language

Under Siege is rated TV-MA on Netflix in the US, and the content warnings Netflix lists are violence, nudity, language and smoking. Netflix shows it as 15 in the UK and MA 15+ in Australia, and Singapore rated it M18, according to IMDb. As of November 8, 2026, IMDb’s parents guide for the series had no entries yet, so here’s what each warning means for this show.

Violence

This is the big one. The story centers on an armed takeover and a military counterattack, so there’s gunfire, people held at gunpoint and the chaos of a building under attack. Netflix’s own description of episode 2 talks about rebels holding hostages at gunpoint while the military counterattacks outside. It’s war-movie violence, not horror, but because these were real people, it lands harder than an action movie.

Nudity

Netflix lists nudity among the content warnings for the series. If you’re watching with a teen, keep the remote handy.

Language

There’s strong language, and the English subtitles translate the swearing, so you’ll see it on screen even if you don’t speak Spanish.

Smoking and Drinking

It’s 1985, so plenty of characters smoke, in offices and newsrooms alike. That’s part of why smoking shows up in Netflix’s warnings.

My Call: 16 and Up

The official ratings land between 15 and 18. TV-MA in the US means it may be unsuitable for kids under 17, the UK and Australia put it at 15, and Singapore says 18. I’d land in the middle at 16 and up, with a parent making the final call. It isn’t just the gunfire. The subject is a real tragedy, and the later episodes stay with grief and with families who never got clear answers. For a 16-year-old, I’d watch it together and talk about it afterward, especially if they don’t know the history yet.

Is Under Siege Scary?

Not in a horror way. On my scare scale it’s a 2 out of 5: a few moments made me jump, mostly sudden gunfire and loud blasts during the siege, but nothing followed me to bed. The tension comes from the clock, the phone calls and the gunfire, not from anything creepy. It is sad, though. The second half of the series stays with the families, so plan for a heavy watch rather than an edge-of-your-seat one.

Dog Scene Guide

I always check this for my fellow dog people. I don’t remember a single dog or other animal in all eight episodes, and none of the reviews I read mention any, so there’s nothing to brace yourself for on that front.

If you came here as a dog parent, the post I’d point you to this week is my daily dog supplement routine, where I share exactly when each of my three dogs gets which supplement. It’s the schedule I actually follow every morning and night.

Is Under Siege in English? Subtitles vs Dub

Under Siege was made in Spanish, and I watched it in the original Spanish with English subtitles. Reelgood’s listing shows English audio too, so if you’d rather not read, check the audio menu on the Netflix player for an English dub.

My tip: if you’re okay with subtitles, keep the original voices. A lot of this story happens in tense phone calls and radio messages, and the real voices carry that tension. With the who’s who list above, the Spanish names are much easier to follow, too.

Is Under Siege the Same as Bank Under Siege or the Steven Seagal Movie?

No, and it’s an easy mix-up when you search. Three different titles share almost the same name:

Under Siege (Palacio), Netflix, 2026: the 8-episode Colombian series about the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. That’s this review.
Bank Under Siege, Netflix, 2024: a 5-episode Spanish series about an armed takeover of a bank in Barcelona in 1981.
Under Siege, 1992: the Steven Seagal action movie set on a US Navy battleship, followed by Under Siege 2: Dark Territory in 1995.

So if a parents guide you find mentions a battleship or Steven Seagal, it’s about the 1992 movie, not this Netflix series.

What Critics Are Saying About Under Siege

Early reviews are respectful and serious, the way you’d hope for a story like this. FlickOnClick gave it 3.5 out of 5 and called it an ambitious, serious drama built around three strong women. K-waves and Beyond also gave it 3.5 and said its real strength is the human side more than the thriller side. Leisurebyte called it a moving watch and praised how real the Palace recreation feels.

Good to know: several of those reviews mention that the first episodes take their time and that the story moves between many points of view. If that sounds like you, the who’s who list and the episode 2 break point above make it easier to settle in. Reviews checked November 8, 2026.

Where Was Under Siege Filmed?

Most of Under Siege was filmed in Bogotá, Colombia, where the real siege happened. Instead of shooting at the real Palace of Justice, which is still a working courthouse today, the team built its own version: a set of more than 4,000 square meters that took over three months to construct, with a 30-meter recreation of the Palace’s original facade. That’s why the building feels so solid on screen. It’s practically a character of its own.

Fun Facts I Read Up On About Under Siege

I always do a little homework around a show like this. Here’s what I found:

Seven years of research. Netflix says the writers spent more than seven years going through documents, testimonies and interviews.
A huge project, even for Netflix. Variety reported it’s Netflix’s second most ambitious Colombian series after One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Netflix’s Francisco Ramos called it “a huge undertaking, even by our own standards.”
The same showrunner as One Hundred Years of Solitude. Natalia Santa led the writing team for both.
From the producers of Narcos. Dynamo, the Colombian company behind Narcos, produced it.
An award-winning director opens the series. Jayro Bustamante, from Guatemala, directed episodes 1 to 3. His film Ixcanul won a Silver Bear at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.
A real journalist’s book. Olga Behar, played by Luna Baxter, wrote Noches de humo, a book built from the testimonies of people involved in the siege.
No easy answers on purpose. Natalia Reyes described the series with the line “no verdicts here,” and it does leave you with questions to think about.

Director Jayro Bustamante, who directed episodes 1 to 3 of Under Siege, at the 2015 Berlinale — Jayro Bustamante at the Berlinale awards ceremony, February 2015. Photo: Queryzo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped from the original and shared under the same license.

What to Watch Next If You Liked Under Siege

If Under Siege left you wanting more, here are three I’ve already reviewed that hit a similar spot:

Collision Course on Netflix: a twisty Spanish heist thriller I gave an 8 out of 10, also best with subtitles.
Last Breath on Hulu: the true story of a 2012 North Sea dive, tense from start to finish and only 93 minutes.
Black Doves season 2 on Netflix: a British spy series I also gave a 9 out of 10, with six episodes that go by fast.

Who Should Watch Under Siege

True-story and history fans, especially if you liked Narcos or One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Anyone who loves a ticking-clock political thriller.
Viewers who are fine with subtitles, or happy to switch to the English audio.
Natalia Reyes fans who know her from Terminator: Dark Fate.
Adults and older teens, 16 and up, who are ready for a heavy real-life story.

In the mood for something lighter? My A Dog’s Perfect Christmas parents guide covers a sweet basset hound holiday movie that’s also on Netflix right now.

Watch the Under Siege Trailer

Here’s the official trailer from Netflix Latinoamérica. It’s in Spanish under the title Palacio, and it sets the tone without giving anything away.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. It’s inspired by the real Palace of Justice siege in Bogotá, Colombia, which began on November 6, 1985, when an M-19 guerrilla commando took more than 300 people hostage. Netflix calls it a work of fiction inspired by real events, so many people and events are real, while some scenes and characters were created for the drama.

It’s rated TV-MA in the US, 15 in the UK and MA 15+ in Australia, and Netflix lists violence, nudity, language and smoking. My call is 16 and up, with a parent’s judgment. Beyond the gunfire, it’s a real tragedy, and the later episodes focus on grief and families looking for answers.

Eight. Netflix released all eight at once on November 6, 2026. They run 46 to 64 minutes each, about 6 hours and 51 minutes in total, and I’d split it over three nights.

It was made in Spanish under the title Palacio. I watched it with English subtitles, and Reelgood’s listing shows English audio as well, so check the audio menu if you’d like the dub.

No. Bank Under Siege is a 2024 Spanish Netflix series about a bank takeover in Barcelona in 1981. Under Siege is the 2026 Colombian series about the 1985 Palace of Justice siege. It’s also unrelated to the 1992 Steven Seagal movie Under Siege.

Natalia Reyes, who many viewers know as Dani from Terminator: Dark Fate. Pilar Navarrete is based on a real woman, and her search for answers is the emotional center of the series.

Not in a horror way. I’d put it at 2 out of 5 on my scare scale: a few startling moments from sudden gunfire and blasts, plus a ticking clock, but nothing creepy. It’s more heavy and sad than scary.

Netflix lists Under Siege as a limited series, so the story is told in these eight episodes and isn’t set up for a second season.

If you’re deciding whether to start it tonight, here’s my best tip: keep the who’s who list open for the first two episodes, and plan a break after episode 2, right before the story starts jumping ahead in time. And if you’re watching with a teen, the violence and the real-life weight of the story are the two things to think about, so I’d save it for 16 and up.

Have you watched Under Siege yet? Tell me in the comments whether you knew about the Palace of Justice before, because I’m curious how many of us are learning about it for the first time through this show. Next up on my streaming list is Carolina Caroline, which just landed on Netflix too. And if you want another true story that kept me tense from start to finish, here’s my Last Breath review.

About me: I’m Emily. My AMC A-List lets me see up to four movies a week, and on the nights I stay home, I’m on the couch with Netflix, Hulu or Disney+. I write every review right after I watch. Thrillers yes, horror never. See all my Movie & TV Nights reviews.

Got a dog at home too? Here’s how I knew my senior dog needed a stroller, and how I mix homemade dog food with kibble. And every movie and show I’ve reviewed this year is in My 2026 Movie Log.